1. Have you made a Taiwanese friend?
Most of my friends are Canadian - there are so many Canadians in Taiwan and I think the majority of them congregate in Kaohsiung. There's even a neighborhood called Little Canada. Having said this, I have some American, British, and South African friends as well, and also some Taiwanese friends. One of my close friends is Rose, a Taiwanese woman in her early forties who doubles as my Chinese teacher and who can party like it's 1999. She is the best thing to have happened to foreigners in this city in a long time because without even having to ask her she will help you with anything you could possibly need. I think she reads minds. My other Taiwanese friends include Casey, a rocking chick who works at another big English school, and Lulu, a travel agent slash waitress who works at my favorite bar. My school consists of half foreign teachers, and half Chinese teachers, but we don't really kick it after hours because they're very Christian, and I don't want to go to baptisms, even if they are on the beach.
The lovely Rose Sullivan.2. What is the content of your classes?
I teach a wide range of students; my babies are about 4 years old and still don't know how to ask to go to the bathroom, and I have 17 year olds in my highest level class. I teach all sorts of things. The curriculum is standardized by the language school I work for but I have some degree of flexibility. In the lower levels we teach a lot of vocabulary, phonics and sentence patterns: "What is it? It is a blablabla..." In my higher level classes we get to cover some interesting topics and I've chatted with them about everything from sex to politics to reggae music. Last week we covered character adjectives and they described me as "outgoing, sociable, strict (pfft!), disorganized, and absent-minded. They are smart little fuckers.
Some of my kids on Halloween. 3. What do you eat if not stinky tofu?
There are many interesting things to eat here. Not eating meat or seafood can be problematic at times and the rest of the time it just makes me feel pretty stodgy. The coolest things I have seen people eat here include, but are not limited to, fish eyeballs, cuttlefish on a stick, jellyfish, and "sea tongue" flavored empanadas. You can get most of these things at the night markets. My diet consists largely of beer and fried things - rice, noodles, vegetables, eggs, and cheese, and in the three months that I have been here I have lost ten pounds.
On one of our first nights here, Ben, Rachel and I ate at Lai Lai, this quasi outdoor eatery near my school that has become a regular hangout. They insisted that instead of having the friendly wait staff barbecue their food for them, they would do it themselves. The chicken was dead when we put it on the grill. The shrimp was not.
4. What kind of bed do you have?
Perhaps you are all imagining me sleeping on the ground, Japanese style - that would be pretty cool, but sadly there isn't much of interest to say about my bedroom. It consists of a twin bed (which is small even for me, but for the most part I am sleeping in it alone so I put up with it) a desk, an air conditioner, and a closet. We had quite a bit of trouble buying sheets because despite the fact we have Ikea, Ikea is still in Chinese, so we both bought two top sheets. I cut one of mine up to make my Halloween costume.
5. What is the weather like at this time of year?
Funny story. Our friend Robyn, who just arrived in Taiwan two weeks ago, was eager to take a trip to Kenting (see earlier post) this weekend - and when she mentioned it to us, everyone told her that she best wait until the "cold spell" passes, because the beach is nicer when it's warmer out. Today, it was a solid 24 degrees out. Sometimes it's chilly at night. The other day, I had to wear socks and shoes - insert horrified face here - and a hoodie at night. This is as bad as it gets.
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